Wanted Dead or Alive
by FeeldaForce
Summary: A female jumper joins Griffin in his quest to track down all paladins. What will happen to her as she falls in love? Romance, humor, action, jumping and more! Takes place during movie. GriffinOC
1. Chapter 1

So, here's the start of my new fic. I've actually had this done for awhile now, but I wanted to get my Titanic fic done. So anyway... heres my new story. I own Amber, so yeah, no stealing her!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Jumper or any of the characters you recognize

-0-0-

Life as a Jumper is not easy, trust me, I would know. My name is Amber. I'm kind of short, curly blonde hair, green eyes, tan-ish, considering where I live now. I hail from the windy city, also known as, Chicago.

My first real jump was in science class. I was seventeen at the time. Try and explain that to thirty-some people. Not easy. I was instantly the school freak. So, one lonely day, I decided to run away. Or, more like, jump. I didn't even say goodbye to my parents.

Five years later, my curse became my blessing. I mean, who wouldn't want to go anywhere at any given moment. Anywhere is possible. Breakfast in England, shopping in Spain, swimming in the Bahamas, and horseback riding in France: all before lunch. Currently, I have a kick-ass apartment in Miami, furnished with items from places I've been to. How do I have the funds for my apartment you ask. Well, I 'borrow' it from the bank I work at. Call me a criminal, but oh well. Besides, its not like you wouldn't do the same if you were in my position.

One fine May day, a guy in his early twenties with sandy blonde hair walked in looking all high and mighty. I inwardly rolled my eyes. He casually strolled to my booth and asked, "Do you have a bathroom I could use?"

"Um, sure, just a second," I replied politely. Standing up from my chair, I walked over to a security guard and explained to him what this guy needed. He nodded and escorted him to the back and to the restroom.

My job was instantly boring again. My eyes flicked to the television screen nearby displaying the security cameras. I saw the blonde guy again; his body jerked and then he was gone. My green eyes grew wide: This guy was a Jumper too. In another moment, the man was back in visual of the screen, a very familiar smug look was planted on his face.

So on that day I learned that there were others like me. Determined to find other Jumpers, I quit my job that day, only to find out later that the bank had been robbed (this time, not by me). I had a faint idea as to who it was, but since he was a fellow Jumper, I felt the need to protect his identity. My quest for others like me lead me all over the world. In total, I met three other Jumpers, not including the mysterious guy at the bank. From them, my eyes were opened.

They taught me that there were Jumper hunters called Paladin, a secret group consisting of hundreds, possibly thousands. These Paladin had weapons that could screw with our jumping, injure us, or even kill us. The thought was not comforting and only furthered my obsession with finding other Jumpers.

On one trip to London, after a long day of attempting to track Jumpers down, I decided that it would be a good idea to stop in a local pub and have a drink. Sitting on a stool at the bar, I order a beer and quietly sipped at my drink. My eyes wandered, taking in the sight of the place. A jingle sounded indicating that someone had entered. I looked to the door, and nearly choked. It was the guy from the bank. Like me, his eyes were roaming the crowded bar. Our eyes met momentarily. He looked away. His sights rested on a blonde nearby. No one noticed but me when he jumped right to her. Cocky bastard, he'll get us all killed.

I continued to look around the room and what caught my eye was a guy around my age, maybe a little older, with wild brown hair, staring the Jumper. But, the stare wasn't in shock, it was knowing, almost like me. In the back of my mind, I noted that this guy was cute. A light bulb went off in my head: Could this guy be another Jumper? Lost in my own thoughts, I barely noticed that he got up and walked out of the joint. Taking one last sip of my beer, I followed him.

I cautiously followed from a distance. In the open, he jumped fifty feet. A smile tugged at my lips, he was a Jumper. I walked through his jump scar and was teleported forward. I followed him silently. Only once did he look back in my direction, in which I would jump in front of him and then jump back behind him when he turned around. I wasn't sure how to approach him; he seemed different from the other Jumpers I had met. They all seemed nice, but he seemed broken more or less. Should I just jump in front of him and introduce myself? Well, that appeared to a good enough plan.

Taking a deep breath, I jumped in front of him, landing with a smile.

A scowl appeared on his face. "So, you're the one whose been following me, eh?" He spoke with a British accent. This made him seem even more appealing to me.

"Hello to you too," I said. He pushed pass me. Determined, I followed him once more. "So, I couldn't help but notice you're a Jumper too."

"Yeah, and your point?" He asked, casting a glance in my direction.

"Well, I, uh, like to get to know other Jumpers," I said. "Oh, by the way, I'm Amber." I flicked my long blonde hair over my shoulder, a tad on the flirty side.

"I don't mean to sound rude but I don't work well with others," he said rudely. He continued to walk.

"I never said I wanted to work with you, I just want to get to know more about Jumping. And, I think you did mean it to sound rude," I replied, stepping in front of him, causing him to stop.

He jumped in front of me. A sigh escaped from my lips. "Wait! Can I at least know you're name?" I called to him. He didn't stop or turn around or answer, he just kept on walking. I jumped to him. "Please?"

The man stopped and sighed, much like I had only moments ago, and said, "Griffin. My name's Griffin. Now will you please leave me alone?"

"Griffin," I let the name roll off my tongue. "Griffin," I repeated. I liked the sound of his name.

"Yes, that's my name. And now I'm leaving," Griffin said before jumping off to who-knows-where. He knew I could follow him through his jump scar, so it really defeated the purpose of jumping. I stepped into his jump scar just before it closed and I was whisked to… the desert? Somehow, I imagined him living in a more exotic place.

Off in the distance, a kiosk like building was set up. I jumped to it and walked in. My sights were filled with crates, some guns stashed in a corner, a small living small over there, and posters of Paladins, I assumed. So, he was a Paladin hunter.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Griffin asked.

"I think you owe me an apology," I stated, looking at the posters. Many were of the same man: Dark skin and white hair. His eyes felt like they were beaming into my soul, I shuddered.

"Yeah? And why's that?" Griffin asked, stepping in front of my vision, blocking the view of the posters. I noticed we were mere inches apart. My heart fluttered. I looked straight into his eyes, which were a deep green-brown.

"You just left without a goodbye, and you were rude to me!" I said, taking a step back. I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Not my problem," Griffin stated. "Now, would you leave?"

'I didn't say anything to him, but walked around his house-thing. It was barely furnished, except for a bed in the corner and couch to the right side with a television in front of it. And, that was about it. "Nice place you have here," I said sarcastically.

"What will it take to get you to leave?" Griffin asked, almost begging. I thought this was cute.

"How about dinner?" I asked, being very forwarded. I even surprised myself.

"What?"

"Dinner…to uh, talk about Jumper stuff," I said, trying to think of lie as to why I wanted dinner.

"Okay, sure, let's go then," Griffin said grabbing some money. "Hope you like Chinese," he stated.

"Yeah, sure. Should you just jump and me follow, or should we just jump together?" I asked awkwardly.

"Let's just jump together," Griffin said. He grabbed onto my hand causing my skin to tingle. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

Griffin nodded silently, then we jumped and landed in front of a restaurant. He let go of my hand. He lead the way into the restaurant.

"Do you speak Chinese?" I asked him, taking in my surroundings. The food smelled heavenly and I couldn't wait to dig in.

"Yup," he said as a hostess greeted us. Griffin spoke expertly and soon we were seated.

-0-0-

So there was the first chapter. What'd you think? Please let me know, I would really appreciate it :


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews!! I really appreciate them!

Disclaimer: I do not own Jumper or any of the characters you recognize.

-0-0-

So, that begins the tale of Griffin and me. He slowly warmed up to me and we eventually partnered up in hunting Paladins. I learned a lot from Griffin, both about Paladins and about him. The most important thing that I learned about Paladins is that their leader, Roland, would stop for nothing to kill him. Since I worked with Griffin, that meant that he would also stop for nothing to kill me. Great right?

What I learned about Griffin only made me fall more in love with him. Yeah, I said love. Of course, he was oblivious to this but, still. Griffin's parents died when he was five by the hands of the Paladins. He had a hardcore exterior, but he was a softie on the inside, or at least around me. Another thing that I learned about Griffin was that fact as a Jumper, you can jump anything that moves, including cars, buses, etc. I learned that the hard way when I went to get in one of his vehicles and it was instantly gone, causing me to fall to the ground roughly. Only to appear a few feet away; Griffin was smiling mischievously at me.

Several weeks after I first met Griffin, he informed me that we were going to Rome. He explained that there was an 'idiot' (according to him) jumping all over, attracting the attention of the Paladin. Where the Paladin went, we went.

"Make sure you grab some money," Griffin called to me from across the room.

"Okay, grab a bat or something," I yelled back. I opened the vault and pulled out a wad of euros, stuffing them in my messenger bag.

"You ready?" Griffin asked, jumping behind me.

"Yup, let's go," I said, grabbing his hand. I jumped us to Rome and we were greeted by sounds and smells of Italy. I didn't let go of his hand when we landed. Instead, I pulled him around, looking at everything.

"Amber," Griffin whined, causing me to turn around and face him.

"Yeah?"

"Can I have my hand back?" He asked, somewhat sheepishly. I noticed he blushed a light shade of pink, something I would have never imagine Griffin to do. I realized that I must have been blushing too.

I laughed awkwardly and released his hand. There was an heavy silence between us. We didn't meet each others eyes: I would look away and when I thought he wasn't looking, peak at him only to find he quickly looked the other way.

"Look! There he is," Griffin said, breaking the silence.

"Who?" I asked looking in the direction of where he was pointing.

"The guy with the blonde hair. He's with a girl; she has brown hair," Griffin said, still staring in their direction.

I followed his gaze and saw who it rested on. It was the bank robber from months before. "I've seen him before, " I announced.

"Ya have?" He asked, his British accent heavy.

"Yeah, I worked at a bank he robbed," I told him. "And I saw him at a bar in England the night I met you."

"Really?"

"Mhm," I cooed. "So, are we going to follow them… or what?"

"Or what. We'll just track them. He's bound to attract the attention of the Paladins sooner or later," Griffin said. We followed them with our eyes, which was slightly boring. I sighed. I shifted from one foot to another, and picked at my nail lightly. I glanced back the Jumper and his girlfriend, they were just talking.

"You wanna look around," I began, "to look less suspicious. I mean, after all, we are just standing here, staring at them."

Griffin was quiet for a moment, deep in thought, as he was normally. He looked at me with a smile on his face. "That's a good idea Amb."

A huge smile appeared on my face. "Amb?" I thought it was adorable.

"Sorry, Amber, I mean," he corrected himself.

"No, it's okay. I think it's cute actually. But what do I get to call you in return?" I asked playfully, linking arms with him and leading him through the square that we were standing in.

"Griffin," he replied bluntly.

"That doesn't count. It has to be a nickname," I told him. I thought for a moment, raising an eyebrow in the process. "What about Griff?"

"I guess that's fine," Griffin said, still smiling.

"Oh, look! They're going into the Coliseum," I said happily, pointing at the pair.

"Let's jump," Griffin stated. His body jerked and he jumped. I followed suit and landed next to him inside of the Coliseum. We were high up in the stands, almost at the top. No one would notice even if they were looking for us.

"Do you see them?" I asked him, my eyes roaming all over.

"Over there," Griffin said, pointing towards the bottom. They were standing on a platform, taking in the breath taking site. They didn't notice us, thankfully.

I whispered, "It's so pretty here." I smiled at the site before us.

"Yeah, it is," Griffin said, but when I looked over at him, he wasn't looking at the Coliseum, but directly at me. My smile widened.

"You're such a flirt," I joked with him, lightly shoving him. But, on the inside, I was soaring on cloud nine if you will. If we hadn't been tracking someone, I would have grabbed him and kissed him passionately right then and there. But we were tracking someone, so I didn't kiss him. Not that I didn't want to.

Griffin laughed, but quickly sobered up. He gaze went back to the spot where the Jumper and his girlfriend were standing. "Shit," he said after a moment.

"What?" I said, tearing my eyes from him back towards the bottom. They were gone. "Where'd they go?"

"How the hell do I know?" Griffin said, clearly annoyed. He ran a hand through his already messy hair. He let out a sigh of frustration.

I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder; I felt him tense at my touch, but then relax after a moment. "Well, they gotta be around here somewhere, let's take a look around, yeah?" I asked him.

"Good idea," he replied. He walked off toward the stairs, leaving me standing alone, hand still extended to the spot where his shoulder was seconds ago. I let an agitated sigh out, rolled my eyes, and followed Griffin in the direction he headed off in. It turned out that he jumped down to the bottom of the Coliseum. When I finally relocated him, he was casually sitting on top of a stone pillar. "What?"

"Nothing Griff, you cease to amaze me," I said, jumping to him and plopping down next to him. "So, where'd they go?"

"They're inside there," he replied, pointing in the direction with his head. "The doors locked, David will be out here in a moment."

"You know for a fact that the door is locked? Who's David?"

"So many questions. I know its locked because I locked it," he paused to smirk. "David is the Jumper's name, ya twit," Griffin joked, nudging me with his shoulder. He was smiling, something I've observed he was doing a lot more of lately. Good, he needed to lighten up anyways.

As if on cue, David appeared from thin air. He started talking to no one in particular, just talking to be hear himself. Or, that's what I assumed. David walked past us and gave us a strange look.

"What?" Griffin asked harshly.

"You've never seen two people sitting on a stone pillar before?" I said, using the same harsh tone as Griffin.

David gave us strange look but continued walking. Once his back was turned to us, we jumped to another pillar a little in front of him. When he passed us, he gave us another strange look.

I waved at him from high up. "How's it going?" I asked casually, using a pleasant tone with him this time.

Griffin didn't say anything. David didn't answer, but quickened his pace. When David nearly reached the end of the row, Griffin and I jump behind him silently.

"Wouldn't open that door if I were you, not if I wanted my girlfriend to keep breathing." Griffin stated, causing David to jump in shock. He turned to face us. Griffin continued, "But that's just me. What are you going to do anything bring her down, have a nice little romantic picnic, a little tea party?"

"Not a good idea," I said, agreeing with Griffin.

"Nope, you wouldn't want to come down here, would ya?" Griffin asked me, swinging the bat over his shoulder.

"Nah, not my thing," I replied, looking around. Yes it was very pretty, but history and all that jazz was never my forte.

Griffin looked back to David and smirked. David must have taken that look the wrong because his face distorted with anger.

"You so much as look at her wrong…"

"What are you gonna do?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow. I jumped behind him, which made him turn and look at me strange.

"Where you gonna jump us?" Griffin asked before jumping next to me. "Think you were the only one?" He jumped back to his original spot as I did the same.

"You lead the life you live, you think you can just come to Rome and _they_ wouldn't notice?" I asked him.

"You think you can jump all over the place?" Griffin also asked. He circled around the spot where David was standing. "You think you can jump and no one would notice?"

We didn't leave enough time for him to answer. "But they have, David. They have noticed," I answered for him. "Not us, we already knew, remember that bank in Chicago?"

David nodded but didn't say anything.

"I saw jump you and kept silent. You've been careless, my fellow Jumper," I said.

"Who've noticed?" David asked, finally finding his voice.

"Them," Griffin pointed with the bat, "down there."

Three menacing Paladins walked through the entrance and neared us. In their hands, they're carrying brief cases. In them, I'm assuming of course, are weapons of some kind to kill and/or hurt us. Not good.

"What's up boys?" Griffin asked, his famous smirk playing on his lips. They remained silent.

A barely audible noise behind me caused me to look over my shoulder. A jump scar left behind.

"David's gone," I told Griffin. He peered over his shoulder as well.

"Looks like its just us then," he said, looking over at me.

"Let's kick some ass, yeah?"

"Sounds good to me," he replied.

We turned our attention back to the Paladin. By this time, they've dropped their brief case like things and out popped a gun. Or least, something like a gun or perhaps a harpoon-shooter.

Griffin noticed this. "That's new."

Before I could honestly comprehend what happened, two of the hunters shot at us; harpoon like wires extending from the end. I jumped to my right, barely missing the thick wires. Griffin did the same, only jumping left. This continued on for a couple minutes, somewhat tiring if you ask me. David fell over a ledge above and nearly landed on me. Griffin saw what happened and jumped to me.

"Welcome to the war," we said in unison before jumping out of the way.

I ended up on top of the stone pillar we were sitting on earlier. The Paladin hadn't noticed me yet. I looked to Griffin, who was also standing on a pillar. One pursuer aimed directly at Griffin's back, who clearly didn't see this. In the nick of time, I jumped to him, grabbed his hand and jumped to the ground and behind a stone wall. I fell on him from the impact of the ground.

"Sorry," I said quietly, quickly getting off him. I extended my hand to him and he took it.

"That's okay, thanks. That was a close one," he said, smiling. He disappeared as he jumped away. I followed him and landed behind a Paladin softly.

"Hello," I said to him. As he turned around, I kicked him in the stomach which resulted in an 'Oof' from him. He land roughly on the hard ground. I grabbed his weapon and threw it as far as I could. The Paladin was starting to get up; I kicked him again, harder, where the sun don't shine. A painful gasp from him. And as harsh as this seems, I picked up a rock from the ground and hit him over the head. A trickle of blood ran down his forehead. I always feel a little bad, but then I get over it.

I glanced over at Griffin and he was fairing just as well as me. The last Paladin was nowhere to be seen. I placed a hand on my damaged Paladin and jumped him and myself to where Griffin was standing. I smiled approvingly at Griffin.

"Good job," he told me. I felt my cheeks grow hot.

"Thanks, you too," I replied.

Before any real conversation could start, David jumped to us. He looked confused and tired. "Who are these people?" He asked us.

"Paladin. Paladins kill jumpers. I kill Paladin," Griffin bluntly said.

"And me, I kill 'em too," I added.

"Class dismissed," Griffin said.

A woman shouting from above in Italian. And now is when I wish that I would have stayed in school and completed my Italian class. She has obviously noticed us and ran off to get someone.

"Let's get out of here," I told Griffin. He nodded as a reply.

We both grab onto our unconscious Paladins and returned to the lair.

-0-0-

So, chapter 2. What'd you think?? Just click that little review button and make my day!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for all the reviews and alerts. They mean a lot to me! I hope you like this chapter!

-0-0-

Moments later, David appeared in the lair. Ut-oh. I remember the first time that I came here uninvited, not good. But of course, look at us now. Either way, Griffin was going to be mad. David looked around, clearly curious, at all the papers on the walls.

"What do you think you're doing here? Huh? If I were you, I'd jump right back." Griffin rudely told him as he hides some papers, cd's, charts, and whatever else he can find. He turned around to face David. "Now, if you would kindly fuck off." A pause. "As in now. Maybe your girlfriend is still alive."

David left without another word. "Well, that worked. And try to not be so rude next time," I said, crossing my arms.

"Next time? There won't be a next time, okay?" Griffin replied.

"If you say so, but I have a feeling that he'll be back." I looked to the Paladin at my feet. "What should we do with them?" I asked, kicking mine in the shoulder.

"Let's just lock 'em up to a chair or something. Maybe they'll tell us something if we let them suffer," Griffin suggested.

"Okay, sounds good," I said, jumping him to a chair near the couch and television. I jumped to the closet and grabbed two sets of hand cuffs (and yes to answer your question, we have hand cuffs). I jumped back to the spot I left the Paladin, handed Griffin a set of handcuffs, and locked my set around my captive's wrist. I jumped to the makeshift kitchen and grabbed two cans of beer. Instead of jumping like I normally would, I walked back to the couch and handed one to Griffin, who had already plopped down and hooked up his Xbox 360. He took the can wordlessly, something I was used too, and soon wrapped up in his video game.

I jumped to my bed, grabbed a magazine from the bedside, and jumped back to my spot next to Griffin.

After I already read the magazine like six times, I grew bored. I let out a sigh which Griffin ignored. I yawned. Ignored. I decided I should be bold. I scooted closer to him and when I was close enough, rested my head on his shoulder. He looked at me curiously, but said nothing He continued to play his game, as if oblivious to me. My eyes drifted close, before I knew it, I was off in La-La Land.

-0-0-

When Amber rested her head on Griffin's shoulder and fallen asleep, he didn't know how to respond. Play it cool? Shove her off? The latter of the two didn't seem to be a good idea, so he played it cool. When he glanced at her, he couldn't help but notice see how beautiful she was. Why hadn't he noticed this before? The way her bronzed skin complimented her light blonde hair. The way she smelled of strawberries, even after fighting off a Paladin. The way her shoulder felt just right against his. It was almost as if it was meant to be. Nothing felt this natural, this good.

He paused the game of Halo 3 he was playing, and carefully brought a hand to her hair. It felt so smooth to touch. He couldn't help but stroke it. His finger brushed against her skin, electricity spread through his hand. But, not the same kind as the Paladin. Hell no, way different. Griffin let his finger move across her cheek and to her nose. From her nose, he moved to her lips. So smooth, so plump, so _kissable_.

Griffin jerked my hand away. He shouldn't be thinking about his partner like that. They worked together. And he had learned in the past to never mix work with relationships. His hand lingered over her face still, aching to touch it.

He refused it and placed his hand back on the controller so he could continue the game.

-0-0-

My eyes fluttered open. I was still resting against Griffin's shoulder. I smiled, but then yawned. I sat up straight and stretched. "Thanks," I murmured.

"For what?" Griffin asked me, not even looking at me.

"For letting me take a nap on you. Your shoulder is quiet comfy," I answered, relaxing into the couch.

"Anytime," Griffin said, never tearing his eyes on the television. I thought this was slightly out of his character, but I didn't mind and would definitely take him up on his offer.

I took a sip from my beer and found it was still cool. Good, I thought, I was parched.

"See this special move here yeah? It's a new thing now, a better control, see you just hit these buttons and," Griffin said, wanting me to watch what he was doing. "…see that?" He asked, looking at me for the first time since the shoulder 'incident'. What I saw in his eyes was different from normal. Did I see love? I blinked and looked again. I must have imagined it.

"That was cool," I said, slightly rolling my eyes.

"Shut up," he said playfully.

David jumped behind the television; neither of us flinched. However, I did look at him with an raised, questioned eyebrow. David stood there awkwardly. He cleared his throat before he asked,

"Is there more of them?"

"What? Paladin?" I asked him. Well, he was vague.

"Yeah."

"Hundreds more," Griffin told him, momentarily looking at him, then looking back to his game.

"We're tracking ten right now," I informed him. "You want something to drink?" David shook his head no. I was just trying to be a good hostess, we don't have company very often you know.

"What do you care?" Griffin asked. He let out a sigh of frustration for he just died in his game.

"What about the rest?" He asked, never answering the previous question.

"What about the rest, we hunt them," Griffin said, restarting his game. David moved around the television so that he is next to it.

"So who are these guys?" David asked.

"We told you, they're Paladins," I answered.

"You told me that much, what do they want?" David asked.

"Pretty simple yeah? They want us dead," I informed him, shifting in my position on the couch and moving towards Griffin once more.

Griffin eyed me before he said sarcastically, "Didn't you figure that out yet?"

David inched in front of the television and said, "Yeah, I got that much."

"Do you mind?" Griffin asked. David's answer is him moving in front of the television.

"Not a good idea, David," I warned him.

"Why?"

"Why? Because he'll get mad at you, that's why," I told him.

"No, not that, why are they hunting us?" David asked, restating his question and making it clearer. What was with him and the vagueness anyway?

Griffin answered, "Because we can do whatever the hell we want. Now, can you please..." A dying noise in the background. "Great, thanks." David shrugged, smiling slightly. He sobered up, waiting for an answer.

"You don't get it, they want us Jumpers dead. They have for centuries," I informed him.

"They're fanatics, religious nut jobs. Witch hunts? That was then. Look, they're smart, they're fast, they're organized," Griffin continued. David nodded when appropriate.

"They'll stop for nothing, anyone who gets in the way, they're goners. Like your family, your friends," I said, but was cut off by my partner.

"Your little girlfriend," Griffin said harshly. I furrowed my brows at that. Griffin continued, "They're all dead, its just a matter of time."

"As much as I hate to say it, he's right. All my family, gone. It really is a matter of time," I said, more gently than Griffin.

David, wordlessly, jumped out of the lair; his jump scar disappeared after moments.

-0-0-

So, how'd you like it?? Please drop me a review and let me know!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews! They mean so much to me! Anyway…onto the next chapter. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Jumper or any of the characters you recognize.

-0-0-0-

I turned to the guy sitting next to me. All of a sudden, I smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"For being an ass," I told him.

"He needed the facts," Griffin said, putting down his controller and facing me. His vision burrowed mine. I had to look away, his gaze was too intense for me. Something about him changed, and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Still, you could have said it more nicely," I told him.

"How was I supposed to say it, huh?"

"I don't know!" I stood up, as did he. "But, you didn't have to use that tone!"

"Tone? What tone?" Griffin asked, his voice raising.

"You sounded cold, harsh, mean," I said, listing off adjectives that described him. "Just like you are now!"

"You know, I didn't have to take you under my wing. I didn't have to let you tag along, okay? I only did it because I felt bad for you!"

And the ugly truth is exposed. Hot tears threaten to fall as I stormed off in the direction of the Paladin, gave them each another kick just because I could, and walked to my bed, which was positioned next to Griffin's. I plopped down and stared at the ceiling, praying that the tears wouldn't fall. I heard footsteps walk in my direction, then felt him lay down next to me.

"I'm mad at you, go away," I said, hiding the tears from him. I faced the other way, attempting to ignore him.

Griffin sat up on the bed and leaned against the oak headboard. When I did sneak a peak at him, I noticed his eyes were closed. Was he asleep? I poked him. He opened his eyes. Guess not. Damn me and my curiosity.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said finally after a few minutes of utter silence.

"Yeah, well, you should be," I told him, rolling over onto the other side to look at him. He looked so cute when he felt sorry. I mentally slapped myself for that one, I was supposed to be mad at him, not ogling him.

"I honestly am and you know me, I never apologize unless I mean it," he said, inching closer to me.

"Yeah, I know. It just hurt," I said, sitting up and leaning against chest. "Did you mean it?"

"No," he lied, I could tell. Whenever he lied, he fidgets with his shirt.

"You're lying," I informed him, looking at him directly, leaning up slightly.

"No, I'm not," he lied again.

"Yes you are, when you lie, you fidget with your shirt."

He stopped fidgeting, even though he wasn't aware of it until just then. "Well, maybe at first, but not anymore," Griffin answered honestly. I relaxed back into him. He wrapped an arm around my waist. This felt right. I glanced at him once more and saw that he was looking back at me. His head came closer to mine, lips inches from mine. I could feel his hot breath on my face. I closed the gap, our lips met.

It was an innocent kiss, or I thought anyway. Moving in sync with each other, Griffin rolled over me, hovering above me as our kiss continued. My hands were on his chest, lifting off his black shirt, casting it aside, exposing his toned chest. I felt him unzip my sweater, revealing my purple tank top. One of his hands was on my shoulder, and the other was under my shirt, his hand was slightly tickling my stomach, causing me to giggle. He broke the kiss for a mere second to laugh at me before I recaptured his lips with my own.

I wanted this moment to go on forever but alas, nothing ever goes my way. We were interrupted by a moan from the corner. I reluctantly parted from his lips, lifted my head in the corner, then let out a irritated sigh. Something I was doing a lot of lately. I let my head flop back down onto the pillow. Griffin rested beside me, absentmindedly playing with a strand of my hair. We were both panting lightly. I turned my head and faced him, smiling.

"I guess we should do something with them," I said reluctantly.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied. Griffin literately rolled off the bed which caused me to laugh. He pulled his shirt back on (much against my wishes) and jumped over to the Paladins, who were reawaking. Griffin whacked them with the nearby bat, sending them back into unconsciousness.

I sat up on my bed and zipped my sweater up, then jumped next to him. I leaned against him. "Where should we drop them off at?"

"Desert?"

"Nah, we did that last time. What about the ocean?" I suggested. Griffin's already happy expression lightened up even more if that's possible.

"Good idea," Griffin said and then he the last thing that I would ever expect. He kissed me. I mean, sure, we just shared a passionate kiss/make-out that could have gone further had it not been stopped, but… I know I had feelings behind it, but I thought he just did it out of the spur of the moment. Maybe there was something behind it from him too.

"Thanks," I said honestly. I jumped to the closet and grabbed the keys to unlock the handcuffs and jumped back. I quickly unlocked each of the handcuffs. Griffin grabbed a hold of one of the Paladins and I did the same. I grabbed his hand and he jumped us into the Atlantic Ocean.

When we jumped back, hand and hand and soaked to the bone, laughing at the looks on the Paladins faces, we were not alone. David, the problem Jumper, was back. My good mood sank a little, however Griffin did not let go of my hand. He held it tightly in his.

"Where'd the Paladin go?" David asked us.

"Swimming," Griffin replied smartly.

David asked, "Pacific?"

"No, Atlantic actually," I answered, smirking.

"Nice little shark pit around Cuba," Griffin said, still in a good mood.

David walked pass us and to a wall filled with Roland posters. He grabbed a few charts, graphs, and other miscellaneous papers. Griffin's hand let go of mine.

"What do you think you're doing? Put that stuff back," he said warningly. He walked a few paces and then stopped. I stayed where I was, what was I supposed to do?

"I need to borrow some things," David announced.

"No you don't," Griffin said, grabbing at the papers in David's hand. They were just out of his reach.

"I need to find Roland," David told us.

"Um, no you don't," I said, jumping next to Griffin.

"I only got eight hours, this girl, her flight lands in eight hours," David said, almost begging us to help him.

"And you think this stuff is gonna help you? This stuff is like four years old." He paused.

"We really need to clean out the old junk," I said quietly, mostly saying it to myself.

"It doesn't matter, it won't help him… I've been tracking Roland for ten years. Look at this," Griffin said, pulling down his collar to reveal a thick scar. I've seen it before, but never this close. It looked like it was painful. "You see this? Our first run in Nepal, you should see the one he gave me back in Prague." I'd like to see where it is, wait, wrong thought at the wrong moment.

"What he's trying to say is, leave the hunting of Roland to us. Okay? Forget it, you'll only get hurt," I told him, more gently than where he was going. I seemed to be doing that a lot recently. Griffin walked off to his 'secret cabinet'. Even I wasn't allowed to look at what was inside of it. David followed him. Griffin made him turn around before he event thought of opening it. I remained where I was.

"I was thinking if we do this together, we can get him," David said over his shoulder.

At this, I walked over to him and gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean? As a team?"

"Yeah, like a team," David replied. He was completely serious.

Griffin laughed and closed the cabinet door and locked it. He slugged a bag full of stuff (most of it probably useless) over his shoulder. "Look, I don't play well with others, I barely get along with her," he said the last part jokingly. "C'mon Amb." Griffin walked out of the lair.

"Okay," I cast a regretful towards David and followed Griffin. Once out in the dunes, I noticed that Griffin has set his bag down on a covered crate, looking for something. "Can you lighten up a bit? The man needs some form of help, even if he got himself into the mess."

"Amber, please don't start wit…"

"No, Griff, listen to me. What if he could help us capture Roland, huh? Are you going to turn away willing help?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

I was about to say something when David walked out of the mouth of the lair. He looked frustrated. I can understand why.

"Do me a favor yeah?" Griffin said to David. "Don't be here when I get back. Find a rock, crawl under it, and stay there." He then pauses before he says something in a different language. He saw our confused looks and then said, "That's goodbye in Chinese."

Griffin grabbed my hand and with his free hand, stabbed a knife into the crate as we jumped halfway around the world to China. My ears were filled with noises and a language that I had no idea what they were saying as we landed in a restaurant at night. Griffin pulled me through the restaurant. The two of us, hand and hand, strolled out of the restaurant and onto the crowded streets. We walked for a few minutes before he looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. He didn't even warn me when we jumped into a subway.

When I looked back, no one was there. I was fearful that a Paladin was behind us.

"David's following us," Griffin said as if reading my mind. I could tell that he was starting to loath him. The hand that was in mine, left and went through his slightly damp hair.

"Oh," I didn't know what else to say. We walked up a flight of stairs. Griffin stopped abruptly and turned to face David, who was close behind us.

"You can't keep following us," Griffin said, annoyed.

"Actually, I'm the one person who can," he replied. We picked the pace up and walked out into the open downtown square. Neon signs flashing things in Chinese, announcers on huge televisions, and ads up the wazoo.

"Lucky us," I said sarcastically to Griffin. Sure, I sorta feel sorry for the guy but this is bordering on creepy.

"No kidding," he replied. We kept walking.

-0-0-0-

So...tell me what you think!! You know you what to hit that little button ;


	5. Chapter 5

So here's the next installment. Enjoy!

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At this point, David had caught up to us. "Why are you walking? I gotta lot of jump sites here…"

"I like walking for a change, makes me feel normal," Griffin said. David looked to me. Walking really wasn't all that bad.

"Its good for the heart anyway," I told him. We walked in a heavy silence, no one dared to be the first to break the silence. I didn't want to be the first one. I'm a follower, not a leader.

"You ever read marvel team up?" David asked, his voice like a sharp knife.

"No," I said honestly. I was into Barbie's and that kind of stuff, not comic books.

"Yeah, your point?" Griffin asked.

"Three superheroes join forces," David explained. Did he really just compare us to superheroes? Well, I have to admit, I am a Wonder(ful) Woman.

"I see what your trying to do, yeah? I'm not buying it. For your own sake, just go home," Griffin was starting to sound exasperated.

"We're doing just fine here," I added.

David stopped walking in front of us, forcing us to do the same. "You live in a cave." Oh he did not just go there.

"It's called a lair!" Griffin practically yelled. "What's your point?"

David shrugged. "Just saying ya know, we kinda have this common thing. And I know where to find Roland."

"You do?" I asked curiously. Before David could answer, Griffin's hand found mine and tugged me away from him. I followed him, not like I had much choice anyway. David pursued us through the streets. Griffin lead us to a car store. It was closed, which made sense, because it was the middle of the night.

"Griffin, what are you doing?" I asked him. He was staring at the car like it was the largest diamond in the world. He let go of my hand and jumped into the store and into the car. He grabbed the keys from somewhere inside, turned the key and the engine was brought to life. He revved it a few times. A large smile appeared on his face. The tires spun rapidly. The car sped toward the window. Just as it was about to crash through the actual window, Griffin jumped it and landed next to me and David.

"Subtle, and you complain about me," David said, walking up to the car side.

"That was sick Griff!" I said happily. I jumped into the passenger seat. The seats were very comfy. Yeah, I could get used to this. He smiled wider.

His smile faded as he looked at David. "We're not gonna get rid of you are we?" David jumped into the back seat, leaning against the front two. "I take that as a no."

Griffin shrugged it off and the car sped forward. However, Griffin's driving was wild; he was all over the road. Dodging cars, people and the likes. I've drove with Griffin before, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't nervous. I was death gripping the edge of the seat, causing my knuckles to turn white. Griffin glanced over at me and smirked.

"Calm down Amber, I won't kill ya," Griffin said, turning his attention back to the road. We were speeding towards a stopped car. Griffin didn't swerve, he didn't even slow down.

"Griff, slow down… Griffin, I'm being serious…Griffin!" He ignored my requests. In fact, I believe he sped up.

"You might want to slow down," David said, also getting very nervous.

"You might want to grab on," Griffin said.

As soon as we were about to crash head on with the car in front of us, Griffin jumped us down the road. I let out a relieved sigh.

"You scared the crap out of me! Don't do that again," I said to him, shoving him lightly.

"You know me, I wouldn't put you in harm. Him however…" Griffin trailed off, nodding his head in David's direction. He was half-joking and half-serious. We were all quiet for a few moments. Griffin jumped us forward several times. One time, we nearly hit a lady and her dog.

"That was close," Griffin said.

"Ya think?" I asked him.

"This thing must be nearly two tons easy, how do you…" David trailed off.

"If it moves, I can jump it," Griffin replied, looking at him in the rearview mirror.

"One time, I was getting in a car and he jumped it away, which made me fall, roughly might I add," I told David, positioning myself so I could look at both of them.

"Yeah, did I ever tell you sorry for that?" Griffin asked.

"No, no you didn't," I told him. "But, I guess I'll forgive you."

"I knew this jumper once, crazy bastard, tried to hop a whole building. Won't be trying that again," Griffin told us.

"Why's that?" David asked.

"Isn't it obvious? It killed him," I said, though I never knew him personally. It just didn't seem possible.

"He did manage to shake it a little bit though," Griffin added.

David was silent for a few minutes, deep in thought or something. "So, how long have you been doing this?" He asked Griffin. Again with the vagueness.

"What driving?"

"No, jumping."

Griffin shifted in his sit and fidgeted with the radio. "Since I was five."

"Five?" David asked.

"How'd you keep it a secret from people? Like your parents?" David asked.

"It's pretty easy when they're not around," Griffin said, emotionless.

"Griffin, it's okay, you don't have to," I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine Amber." He shrugged me off. He never did like talking about his parents. It took forever for him to tell me.

"Where were they?" David asked him.

"Not around," Griffin replied, tensing.

David nodded in acknowledgment. "You know my mom, she took off when I was five. I know what its like to not, ya know? My dad…"

Griffin cut him off. "I did ask you about your family? I mean are we on opera here or something?"

Uncomfortable silence followed. David cleared his throat. "What about you Amber? How long have you been jumping?"

"Five years."

"That's not very long," he said.

"Yeah, well… I'm just as good of a Jumper as those who have jumping twice as long as me," I said, somewhat defensively.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it the way I said it," David apologized.

"That's okay," I told him. "Other Jumpers have made me feel bad about it, I can't help it. I'm actually a better Jumper than most I've met."

"Anyway…" Griffin said, cutting off our conversation. We drove in silence. Griffin drove us over a large bridge. I glanced at the water below; it looked eerie. It's not that I'm afraid of heights, or water, or bridges for that matter, but something about that water did not look right to me. It felt like the fish were watching me. I'm weird, I know. Fish are just plain creepy if you ask me.

As usual, David broke the silence that was between the three of us. "I can't keep doing this, I gotta go. Her flight lands any second, I need an answer."

Right in the middle of the freeway, Griffin slammed on the breaks, almost causing the people behind us to crash. I looked back at David. Man, this guy was persistent.

"Uh, Griffin, I'm not sure if you noticed this when you stopped, but we're kinda in the middle of a highway," I said.

"I noticed," he replied shortly.

"This is it, alright? Marvel team up, now or never," David said, trying to convince us, well mostly Griffin, to join his crusade. He knew that if Griffin joined that I would too. Smart guy, I must give him that. Persistent and annoying, but still smart…well most of the time.

"A very limited run right?" Griffin asked. He was actually considering joining him? It was daylight by now. A dawn of a new day and perhaps a new alliance.

"Save her, kill him, we're done," David answered.

"Detroit airport right?" Griffin asked.

"Yeah."

Griffin jumped without another word. David followed suit. I hit my head against the back of my head rest. "Great," I said to myself before jumping to the Detroit airport.

The airport was busy that day; there were people everywhere. I barely found Griffin and David over everybody else. I was on the shorter side, so most people where taller than me. I actually had to jump up and down to see over everyone. I saw Griffin looking at the flights board. I jumped to him. He looked frazzled.

"What is it?" I asked him. David jumped next to me.

"Hey," he said simply.

I got the answer to my question. Griffin said, "Her flight from Rome landed an hour ago. You didn't check on the flight?"

"My bad," was all David said. Wow.

"Great," I said sarcastically. "Now what?"

"We gotta fine her," David announced.

"You find her, we'll gonna arm up, meet me back at the lair," Griffin told him.

"Alright," David said before jumping off to who knows where. I looked around to make sure no one saw us. I saw no heads turned in confusion. I glanced downwards and I did see a little boy with wide eyes. I nudged Griffin and pointed to the little boy.

"What you lookin' at?" We walked over to him, I grabbed his hand in the process. Griffin bent down to his level. "Boo!" We jumped back to the lair.

"That was nice," I told when we landed.

"I'm a nice guy," he replied casually. He walked over to his secret cabinet and pulled out a flame thrower.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked him.

"I borrowed it from a bloke from Germany," Griffin replied. He was smiling, apparently this made him very happy.

"Oh I see. Let's hide it out here somewhere, that way we can get to it quickly if we have too," I suggested.

"Good idea," Griffin said, sending his smile in my direction. "How long do you think we have until David gets back?"

"Dunno, maybe two hours or so," I said.

"Okay," Griffin said while setting down his flame thrower under a large table. He jumped to me, grabbed my face with his strong hands and seized my lips with his. He pulled me toward the bed, pulling off my shirt as I was his. I fell on his bed with him over me.

Griffin lips made their way down to my neck. "You don't know how long I've been waiting to feel your lips on mine again," he mumbled through kisses. I knew what he meant. I grabbed his face and kissed him again, this time with even more passion, if that's possible. I felt his hands travel down to my pants, unzipping and pulling them off. His pants were already off. Skin met skin as we were left to enjoy each other's company.

-0-0-0-

This is probably one of my favorite parts! Squee! Anyway… let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

First off, I would like to thank everyone who has faved, reviewed, and alerted this story! Your support means a lot to me. I'm just glad that there are people out there that like this story. Second, this chapter is a little shorter than the previous. Sorries! Here's the next chapter!

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I faintly felt something on my nose, but ignored it. The tickling continued. I tried to fight the giggle that was threatening to come out. I failed. Miserably. I began to out right laugh. I peaked open my eyes to see Griffin, smiling, leaning against his elbow and tickling me with a feather. Where he got the feather, I have no idea. It doesn't matter, it still tickled.

"That tickles ya know?" I asked him, smiling.

His famous smirk was present. He stopped tickling me and asked, "Really?"

"Mhm, it does," I replied. I smiled even wider. I think that I'm past the point of falling in love: I now happily reside in Love Land. Oh great, now I sound like some crappy poem wrote by a love struck high schooler.

Griffin kissed the tip of my nose. An act to make up the fact that he was just tickling me. He then kissed me on the lips, lovingly. His lips were so plump and kissable. I don't think that I would ever get sick of kissing him.

Griffin asked, "You think we should get dressed before David gets here?"

"Yeah, that might be a tad awkward to explain," I joked with him. I sat up, covering myself respectively with the sheet and attempted to locate my scattered clothes. Griffin found his easily and was dressed before I even had found my pants. I dressed quickly once my clothes were found. I sat on the bed Indian style, just watching Griffin move around the lair. He grabbed a messenger bag, stuffed some papers into, and lastly grabbed a shovel (why I have no idea). He jumped to the entrance, turned back to face me and said, a large smile on his kissable lips,

"You coming or what?"

I answered him by jumping to his side, also smiling. He lead the way out of the entrance and into the dunes. We walked over to a large crate that I barely noticed that was there (there happens to be a lot of large crates, so once you've seen one, you've seen them all). He placed the messenger bag on top and began to dig. I jumped to the top of the crate. It was chilly that night, the stars were out, shining bright. I laid on my back, knees dangling over the edge, just staring up. Some believed the stars held all the answers, but I have to disagree. I don't think my life is plotted out by connecting the dots. We make our own fate.

"Whatcha looking at?" He asked me, still digging.

"Just the stars, the sky is so clear tonight."

He paused his digging to look up at the stars. He didn't say anything for a moment or two. Then he went back to digging.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Griffin questioned.

"Fate," I replied.

"Yeah?"

"Yup, I don't believe in it. I think life just plays out how you make it, ya know?"

"Sure."

"What're you digging for?" I asked him. David jumped to us at that exact moment, not giving Griffin the time to answer.

"Griffin? Amber? There's something I gotta tell you," David said. He sounded frantic. I sat up straight.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Did you find her?" Griffin also asked.

"This might piss you off a little bit," David began. Oh no.

"Piss me off?" Griffin stopped digging.

A female voice off in the distance. Let me repeat that, oh no. "David, you did not bring her here, please tell me that this is just a hallucination from lack of sleep or something," I said, hopping down from the crate.

"About that…" David trailed off.

"David?" The girl asked timidly. "What's going on?" She must have been so confused, being thrown into this war without a choice in the matter.

He didn't answered her. However, Griffin and David started to argue, loudly might I add. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed heavily. "Hey!"

They both stopped and looked at me.

"This isn't helping," I announced.

"She's right. The paladin can follow you here. They have a machine to keep open worm holes," Griffin told him.

"What do you mean?" David asked naively.

"It means that they can follow us here or anywhere for that matter," I told him before jumping inside the lair. Lights flashed brightly. Griffin jumped next to me within seconds. "What's gonna happen?"

"I dunno," he answered truthfully. Noises from the other side filled our ears. Griffin's arms wrapped around me, pulling me in tight. He was trying to comfort me. My arms snaked around him, too. I'm not going to lie to you, I was down right scared. Normally, we could have just jumped away, but it was no use now.

"Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll never leave me," Griffin whispered in my ear.

"I promise, Griff."

David jumped and landed next to Griffin. He looked at the opening worm hole curiously and slightly alarmed. Griffin gave him a nasty look.

"What have you done?" He simply asked him.

"We gotta get out of here," David said.

"There's no where to go," I started, "they can follow us anywhere now."

A burst of blinding white light appeared as the worm hole was fully opened. Thankfully, we all jumped out of the way of the full blast. Griffin and I jumped behind one pillar that was holding the ceiling up; David was behind another nearby. I peaked around the corner, not an easy feat when Griffin's arms are still around you, and I saw Roland in the flesh. His back was to us. It looked like he was mulling everything over. Griffin pulled me back in, shaking his head as if to say 'don't'.

I glanced at David. Even in all this disaster, I still couldn't help but roll my eyes at his stupidity. He stepped out of the shadow and into the light, exposing himself and also us. Before I would let a harpoon-like wire wrap around us, I jumped us to another part of the lair, the part where the flame thrower is hidden.

"Griff, use it now," I told him. He nodded wordlessly, grabbed it and hauled it up. He cocked it to make sure it was ready. It was. He jumped silently behind the Paladins. I grabbed a metal crowbar that was nearby. I jumped next to him.

"You're not different," Roland told David. I had apparently missed some part of this conversation. He pulled out a knife and started to clean it.

"I'm different!" Griffin yelled. The group of three plus Roland turned to face us. The crowbar was casually slugged over my shoulder while Griffin menacingly pointed the flame thrower directly at him. A smirk was on both of our faces.

"Move!" Roland shouted to his men. They all dodged out of the way as Griffin's flame thrower spat out bright orange flames. He torched most of the lair in the process. The gun cut off, signaling that Griffin had stopped launching the flames.

I jumped straight to one of the Paladin, beating him with the crowbar. Once I was sure that he was unconscious and/or dead, I moved on to another. I quickly glanced at Griffin: he wasn't fairing too well against Roland. The last Paladin was knocked out. I jumped behind Roland and before he had time to react, metal collided with the back of his head. He fell forward.

"Take that, bitch," I yelled at him. I stepped over his body and into Griffin's arms. I smiled into his chest.

"Good job," he told him, stroking my hair.

"Thanks." I pulled back. I looked around us. You know how I said that the lair had been torched? Ya, well, half of it was destroyed. Not good. Roland sprang up, ready to fight. But Griffin was ready. At one point, he must have reloaded the flame thrower because he fired it sending Roland back through the still open worm hole. Faintly, I could hear David telling the girl, Millie, to run. Griffin was still shooting flames at Roland via worm hole. He then did something that I should have expected, but didn't; he jumped through the worm hole. He was gone in an instant. I wasn't stupid enough to follow him. I probably would have just got in the way anyway. He would be back momentarily, right?

I worriedly paced back and forth. I walked in the direction of David and Millie. I walked in on at the end of their conversation. She looked scared out of her mind. "Please…"

David was cut short by the sound of Griffin returning with a very large box like thing. I assumed that it was the worm hole opener. I completely forgot about that when he stood up. I jumped (literately) into his arms. He returned my hug in front of David and Millie.

"I was so worried about you," I whispered to him.

"I'm fine, really," he said, reassuring me. He put an arm around my waist, and happily said to the three of us, "I got it!" He pointed to the machine on the floor. "I trapped 'em there, they're screwed now." None of us noticed the still open worm hole behind our backs.

But he spoke too soon. Two wires shoot through the worm hole; one wrapped around my waist, the other around Millie's waist. Great, ten thousand bolts of electricity going through my body. Millie was pulled backwards first. I was second. David and Griffin didn't have anytime to react.

0-0-

Alrighty, so there it was. There's two chapters left of this story. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

I was pulled into an apartment that still had the markings of the flame thrower. I was pinned against the wall with three more electric wires. Even better, four thousand bolts now. I couldn't stop my body from jerking. It was as if I was trying to jump, but didn't go anywhere. I glanced over at Millie; she was unconscious.

Roland stepped into my sight. He looked worse for wear. I openingly smirked; Griffin had done a good job on him. A few cuts were still oozing red blood on his face. Next, Roland surprised me by kicking my shin hardly. I couldn't do anything since I was pinned to a wall.

"Bastard," I told him. My body jerked.

"Good to see you Amber," he said in a sick-sweet voice. "They'll have to come and get you now."

"They're not stupid, they know it's a trap," I replied.

"Either way, they're both not going to let the ones they love suffer long," Roland said. He pulled a knife out of his back pocket and unwrapped. He looked at the knife lovingly.

I thought I was going to die right then and there. I heard the stories that Griffin told me: Roland sticks Jumpers with the knife. I flinched when he brought the knife to my neck. He didn't cut me though. He jabbed me in the stomach with it. A long streak across my stomach, my shirt turning red instantly from my blood. I couldn't help but yell in pain. I jerked even more.

He smiled menacingly at me. "They'll be along shortly, don't you worry." He walked off. What was Griffin and David doing to get us out? The apartment grew hazy and soon, I passed out.

-0-0-

Both David and Griffin were pacing back and forth. Both had lost the one person they loved most. The possibilities ran through Griffin's mind. What should he do? What can he do? He couldn't jump in there, he would get killed and that wouldn't do Amber much good. A thought occurred to him, he didn't like it, but it was the only option he could think of.

He walked quickly to his secret cabinet and on the machine inside, he started punching in numbers or perhaps a code of some sort.

David noticed this and asked, "What are you doing?" Griffin looked over his shoulder at him and shrugged.

"I was thinking about going bowling," he replied sarcastically.

"What?" David asked him confused. Griffin stood to his full height, which was about five inches shorter than David's.

"Look, Roland's whole armies in there, I'm gonna go back there and end this, what do you think? I'm gonna blow 'em to Timbuktu," Griffin announced.

"But Millie and Amber are in there," David told him.

Griffin knew this, and if Amber loved him like he knew she did, she would have to forgive him for what he was planning on doing. "I know."

"Did you hear me? Amber is in there and you're still planning on blowing that apartment up?" David asked him.

"David, I have too, okay? She would do the same if she were in my situation," Griffin told him.

"You sure about that?"

"No."

"I have to go get Millie, I'll get Amber too," David said.

"What?"

"It's my fault that Millie's there, so when I go get her, I'll get Amber too," David repeated, yelling at him.

"We all have to make sacrifices once and a while," Griffin said, ruffling through some papers, looking for something. "Where's that detonator?"

"Do you hear yourself?" David asked him.

"What?" He asked once he found what he was looking for.

"You're willing to kill Amber?"

"David, just drop it, yeah?"

"No."

"Listen, I love Amber. I really do, this is my way of fixing it," Griffin said, looking him straight in the eyes. "I've made my sacrifices in the past," he turned his back to David, "when my parents were killed. The Paladin came to my house and killed my parents, believe me, its harder the second time."

-0-0-

My senses snapped alert. My body still jerked and now it was starting to ache. A moan escaped my lips. I had no idea how long I'd been out. I looked around the apartment. I couldn't see Roland or any of his Paladin nearby. Good. Millie was alert by now. She glanced at me.

"Hi," she said weakly. "I didn't introduced myself, I'm Millie."

"I'm Amber," I said through the shocks. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little tied up at the moment." Not the right time for a bad pun.

Millie still found it funny though. She laughed quietly. "Are you one of them?"

"One of who?"

"Whatever David is," she said.

"Unfortunately," I said.

"How are we gonna get out of here?" Millie asked me.

"You're not," Roland's voice said. He walked around the corner and into the living room. He was holding the knife still. He strolled over me and in the opposite direction, cut down my stomach. I held in the yell this time, I didn't want him to have satisfaction.

"How's that feel?" He asked me.

"Just dandy," I replied. "Why don't you let me down and we'll have a real fight."

"Why would I do that? So you can run back to your little Griffin? I don't think so," Roland replied. Well, shit, I was hoping he'd fall for that one. Now what?

Roland left us alone. I didn't strike up a conversation with Millie. I was deep in thought. How was I supposed get back to Griffin? I didn't have a knife to cut through the wires, I couldn't jump. Just fabulous. A light bulb went off in my head. Roland would fall for letting me go to 'fight', but maybe one of his lackey's would. A Paladin just happen to walk into the living at that moment. Carpe Diem, yeah?

"Pst," I whispered to him. He looked over at me. "Come here." He did. "You wanna fight? I promise no jumping from me. This will just help you stay loose for when David and Griffin show up."

"I don't think I should," he replied stiffly.

"This will be our little secret," I told him, giving him what I hoped to be an innocent look. The Paladin looked around, making sure Roland wasn't nearby. He quickly undid the wires that were pinning me against the wall. The constant electricity was gone from my body. I felt free again.

The Paladin dropped into a fighting stance. Cute, he actually believe me. I smirked at him. I waved and then jumped back to the lair, leaving behind a confused Paladin. I felt relieved because he couldn't follow me; the worm hole opener was still at the lair. I expected to see Griffin and David there, but I was wrong. No one was there but me. I looked around for signs of struggle or something and saw nothing.

-0-0-

So it's a little on the shorter side, sorry about that. Please tell me what you thought, but no flames please. If you don't like the story that much why even bother reading it?

Only one more chapter left!


	8. Chapter 8

Final Chapter! I must admit, then I'm very sad that this story is ending. I hope you enjoy it!

-0-0-

I saw the shimmer of a jump scar. With one hand on my slightly bleeding stomach, I stepped through it and was teleported to the Empire State Building in New York City. I didn't see Griffin or David anywhere, but I did see another jump scar. I stepped through that, I landed on top of a pyramid in Egypt. Where was this going? Another jump scar. Oh boy. I stepped through that one and found myself on a busy highway in some random city. These jump scars were fresher, I had to be getting closer to them. The desert was the next stop. I could see footprints scattered, here and there. What was going on here? It looked like one was chasing the other. I jumped through the last jump scar and I was back in a city, but a different one from New York City. This was a fresh jump scar, I stepped through and I was back on the Empire State Building. David and Griffin were nearby and they were…fighting? Over what?

"Griffin? David?" I asked as I got closer, walking with difficulty. They didn't hear me. But I could hear them quite clearly.

"Don't," Griffin warned David. Whatever Griffin warned David against doing, he did it anyway. He threw a remote looking thing over his shoulder and over the building edge. It quickly plummeted below them. "Bad move!" Griffin yelled at him before jumping over the edge. A ton of people around him screamed from shock. Not the fact that he jumped over physically, but that he actually _jumped_. David also jumped over.

I ran to the edge of the building. Both were trying to grab the remote. Apparently this was very important. What should I do? I paced back and forth. I ran (as best as I could considering that I was bleeding) back to the edge of the building. They were almost near the bottom. Mere feet away, they jumped else where. I jumped down to the street. Their jump scar above my head. I jumped into it. Water surrounded me. A pool. I swam up to the surface. Everyone was screaming loudly. David jumped somewhere and Griffin remained.

"Griffin!" I yelled to him. He turned his head to face me. I jumped to him and hugged him while swimming. He jumped us to the middle of a city, taking half the water with us.

"I thought I would never see you again!" He said through kisses. "What happened?" He asked, noticing my battle wounds.

"Roland happened," I replied.

Griffin nodded and then said, "We got to get that detonator back from David," he told me. He grabbed my hand and jumped us into a parked truck that was nearby. I was in the passenger seat and Griffin in the drivers. He revved the engine and then jumped us to Antarctica of all places. The car bounced off the snow and hit a dazed David straight on. The car bounced again and we went off the chunk of ice. I quickly reacted and teleported the three of us plus the car to the first place I could think of: Chechnya. I remember learning about it in high school. Griffin and I landed roughly on the ground, David was no where to be seen. All around us, people were shooting. Clearly, we'd dropped in on a bad time. Griffin and I jumped out of the car just in time because a tank rolled over it.

We attempted to dodge bullets and the likes, but it wasn't easy. "Why Chechnya?" Griffin asked me.

"It was the first place I could think of. I was working under a lot of pressure, okay?" I answered him while decking behind a large object. The hand that was still on my stomach was crimson red with blood. Oh, not good. Griffin grabbed the remote-detonator that had fallen on the ground and jumped behind the same large object as me.

"I'm just glad you're alright," he told me. "I love you."

Freeze. Griffin just told me that he loved me, in the midst of a war no less. "I love you, too," I jumped closer to him and kissed him. From a bystander's point of view, this might have been romantic: Two lovers in a middle of a war. However to David, it must have been ironic. His voice caused me to pull away. He was standing in front of us.

"That's cute ya know? Funny, he was willing to blow you and that apartment up just to kill Roland," David said. He looked smug.

"Griff, is that true?" I asked him. I couldn't believe it. Sure, he had done a lot of rash things before, but this?

Griffin started, "I thought you would understand. If I could have killed Roland…"

"What?" I stood up, exposing myself to the bullets. Probably not the smartest thing to do. "Sure Roland would be dead, but what about me? You just told me that you loved me and you're willing to sacrifice me? God, I'm such an idiot!" I stormed off, struggling to jump here and there avoiding soldiers.

I heard a loud noise behind me. When I turned to look to see what it is, I saw David jump Griffin into a falling electric tower. That would sure hurt. Good, he deserved it. David jumped back to the ground. He jumped off to who knows where, assumingly back to Millie's apartment. I turned to jump, but was stopped.

"Amber!" Griffin yelled. I turned back around and jumped under the leaning tower. "Please, help me down!"

"Why should I?" I yelled back. I was still mad at him. I glared up at him.

"Because," he started, "I still love you, even if you don't love me back." Of course, he had to say that. I sighed.

"How am I supposed to get you down, huh?" I asked him.

He smiled widely. "There are wire cutters back at the lair," he said.

"Alright, I'll be back," I told him before jumping back to the lair. It took me a few good minutes to find where these supposed wire cutters were. Once they were located, I jumped back to Chechnya. I jumped up to him and quickly cut through the wires, not wanting to get injured anymore than I had to. He fell to the ground and landed with an 'oof'. He stood up, acting as if nothing happened. I jumped gracefully back to the ground. I dropped the cutters to the ground. We stood there awkwardly.

A bomb behind me was dropped and I ducked to the ground as did Griffin. The debris flew everywhere and I felt something sharp pierce through me. I couldn't jump, I was pinned to the ground with a pole through me. Fabulous, more pain through my middle section.

"Griff," I whimpered. He was at my side in an instant. "Help," was all I could get out.

"Alright, I'm gonna pull this out of you. It might hurt a little," he told him. "On three… One… Two…" He didn't wait for three, he pulled the pole out of me. A scream escaped my lips.

"Ow," I said meekly. I placed a hand on my stomach, my hand was covered in even more blood. Wonderful. "I love you," I whispered my goodbyes to him. I felt my body start to shut down. My breathing became short and shallow.

"Amber, don't do this, not after I just got you back," Griffin said quietly. He pulled me onto his lap. He stroked my hair, I smiled faintly.

"My body feels so cold," I told him.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me, don't break your promise." I could see tears bordering his eyes.

"I'm sorry…Please, just tell me that you love me," I said quietly.

"You're not gonna die-"

"_Please_," I begged. I had to hear it at least one more time.

"I love you, Amber."

That was the last thing I heard in this world.

-0-0-

Griffin felt Amber's body go limp, her eyes closed and would never open again. "No! Amber, Amber!"

He rested his forehead against her as the tears fell. The last time he cried was when his parents were murdered. He rocked her back and forth, begging her to come back. But he knew this could never be. Amber, the one girl he loved, was gone, dead. He always thought that he would be the first to go, not her. She was always more careful than him. He stood up, with her in his arms, and jumped them back to the lair. He laid her down on his bed. He sat next to her, his head in his hands.

"You know, I used to tell myself that I would never fall in love. It was easy to not feel any emotions. Then you came along and had to fall asleep on my shoulder," he told her even though she couldn't hear him. He kept his eyes closed. "God Amber, why? Huh? I'm sorry that I ever thought of sacrificing you. I don't know what I was thinking." He looked to her, she looked peaceful. He prayed that she was in a better place. Anywhere was better than this world.

Griffin's hand found hers; it was like ice. He positioned himself next to her. All he did was stare at her lifeless form. Even in death, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And he couldn't believe that he let her die.

Griffin fell asleep next to Amber's form, only to reawaken when he heard someone stumbling around in the dark. He jumped to the source of the noise and ran into something solid.

"David?" His voice sounded weak and shaky. "Millie?"

"Griffin, what's wrong? You sound shitty," David asked unsympathetically, trying to find a light. Once he found one, he wished he hadn't. He saw that Griffin's eyes were swollen red, and when he continued to look around, he saw the still form of Amber.

"What happened?" Millie asked sympathetically.

"What happened? Amber died in Chechnya," he said bluntly. It was the first time that he actually said she had died.

"How?"

"A bomb blew up near us and a pole went through her... I held her as she died," Griffin answered.

"I'm sorry," Millie told him. She placed a comforting hand on his arm. He shrugged it off. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Griffin lied, fidgeting with his shirt. He stopped once he knew what he was doing. He could hear her voice saying, '_you fidget when you lie you know'_. He fought the tears that were trying to emerge. He turned his back to them and faced Amber.

Moments later, Griffin turned back around. He couldn't stand to look at her anymore. He let his tears fall. They were warm and salty and felt out of place on his cheek. He could shed his hardcore exterior for once. Though Millie didn't know him very well, she pulled him into a motherly hug.

"Shh, it'll be okay," she cooed. He cried into her shoulder. David stood there awkwardly, what was he supposed to do? Mille pulled Griffin out to arms length. She wiped away the tears with her thumb. "It'll be okay," she whispered again.

"David, will you help me with the burial?"

-0-0-

Life is funny sometimes. You're here one moment and gone the next. As quoted in a famous movie, 'Life _is_ like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you'll get next'. I was robed of my life at the young age of 23, like many Jumpers before me. There are some things that you wish you could be there for. For me, I wish I could have been in Griffin's arms, to be able to hear his voice again, to feel his lips on mine. I wish I could have been able to start a family. There were so many things that I wanted to do I but would never get that chance

As I watched Griffin and David lower my casket down into the desert ground, I couldn't help but feel sad. I could feel the tears behind my eyes, but yet they wouldn't fall. Maybe as a spirit you aren't able to cry, I can't be sure. I felt a translucent hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at the spirit. I was greeted by my mothers face. I haven't seen her in five years, since I left home. No words were needed as she pulled me into a hug. She linked arms with me as she led me into the pearly white gates of Heaven. I would wait for Griffin until we could be together again. Like I promised, I would never leave him. All he had to do is look to the stars and know that I was watching over him.

-0-0-

So that was the last chapter. A bit cheesy/fluffy at the end there but I liked it. I had to throw in a little 'Forrest Gump', its one of my favorite movies. So tell me what you think! No flames though. If you have a suggestion for a sequel, though I have no idea how it would work, feel free to drop me a note. I kinda have an idea for a sequel, but I would like to know your ideas!

Oh this is going to sound really lame, but how do you send private messages? I feel so stupid for asking but I can't figure it out. sheepish smile


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